


From the Pilot, with Love

by volkralit



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Romance, Space Husbands, im obsessed with gil and it's the worst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 17:16:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14406756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volkralit/pseuds/volkralit
Summary: Often, when Ryder’s freetime wasn’t commanded by the struggles of living in a new universe, he’d find himself dawdling between the affairs of his crewmates for his own entertainment. Sometimes it was seeing the contraptions Jaal and Liam had come up with, other times it was hearing what Peebee had to say about their resident Krogan’s aggressive attitude. Today, Ryder’s entertainment came in the form of a handwritten letter addressed specifically to Gil.





	From the Pilot, with Love

**Author's Note:**

> I like to think these two do nothing more than throw witty remarks at one another as a greeting.

Often, when Ryder’s freetime wasn’t commanded by the struggles of living in a new universe, he’d find himself dawdling between the affairs of his crewmates for his own entertainment. Sometimes it was seeing the contraptions Jaal and Liam had come up with, other times it was hearing what Peebee had to say about their resident Krogan’s aggressive attitude. Today, Ryder’s entertainment came in the form of a handwritten letter. 

Ryder had been given the exceptionally special task of going on a delivery mission to the engineering deck after the latest feud that had transpired between Kallo and Gil (where Gil had ended up putting Kallo on mute and proceeded to take apart a portion of the drive gears). When the favor had first been asked of him, the look of pure shock on Ryder's face had been enough to spur Kallo into action - if giving a long-winded speech about how a pilot and his engineer counted as "action." In any other situation, Ryder would have wanted to stay out of it. He knew all too well that Gil wouldn't take too kindly to the idea of third-party involvement, but it's not as though he could complain about being given an excuse to visit his favorite technician.

Still, as he stared at the boldly signed courtesies on the face of the letter, he couldn’t help but think Kallo had possibly sent him on a mission with a paper full of profanities.

Ryder eventually found Gil leaning on his elbows and hanging over the handrails of the upper deck. Much to Ryder's disappointment, Gil seemed too preoccupied with the business Vetra was doing downstairs to take even the slightest notice of him. Offended, every egotistical bone in Ryder's body begged him to drag Gil's full attention to his presence - and though his father might not have approved of the manner in which he executed this, he knew for certain this was his best plan to date.

By the pure mercy of luck, his arms and legs managed to cooperate when he went to slip his hand into Gil's back pocket, letter in clutch. Gil started with a jump, but rather than addressing this unconventional greeting, Ryder simply leaned his frame against the handrail right beside Gil, eyes straight ahead. He even bravely refused to take his hand out even as he felt the heat of Gil's gaze set upon the side of his face, or when he felt Gil's muscles flex just behind Ryder's hand. 

“I’ve got a strange feeling that I’ll soon be coming onto a lot of money from a successful harassment lawsuit," Gil said, drenching his words in sarcasm.

Ryder pretended (for his own sake) that he was not amused in any way, "Maybe if you went a little easier on me at poker, you’d have some money to win from me.”

“Not my fault humanity’s Pathfinder can’t find his way out of his own bankruptcy,” Gil remarked. Ryder had a hard time trying not to crack a smirk at that foul pun. 

“That’s why I got a new job,” Ryder professed, taking the letter out of Gil’s pocket and handing it to him like a normal person. “I’ve come as a messenger; Kallo wanted me to give you this.”

Every bit of happiness drained from Gil’s face as he saw the bold writing on the front of the letter. "I had no idea FedEx had a branch in the Andromeda universe.” Only a few seconds later did it occur to him to mumble, “or that they updated their method of delivery.”

“I guess everyone at Corporate finally got their hands on one of those vintage porno’s and decided things weren’t sexy enough,” Ryder chuckled, moving his hand on the rail ever so slightly to play with the hem of Gil's shirt.

Gil, much to Ryder's pleasure, angled his body so that he could fully face the Pathfinder, “Thank God for that.” 

A response like that seemed like enough of an invitation. Ryder dragged himself closer to Gil, inch by inch, until he could slip his hand where it wasn’t supposed to be (again). A firmly placed palm on the small of Gil’s back allowed him to close the rest of the dead space between them; chest-to-chest, he finally had the nerve to make full eye-contact with the other man.

“Ryder,” Gil warned in both surprise and fear, knowing Vetra would eventually look up from her work to see them. 

“Gil,” Ryder taunted.

“She could see us,” he said, anxiously looking downward.

“And? It’s my ship,” Ryder smirked. 

To that, Gil had no contest; his “feel it, do it” motto had finally caved in, and it seemed there was nothing in Gil’s gut that told him he didn’t feel it too. Ryder had already started going in for a kiss by the time a shrill voice buzzed in on comm without any consideration (or, perhaps, knowledge) of what was going on. 

“Ryder, Jaal is looking for you.” 

Gil stopped dead in his tracks. Ryder winced; he felt the muscles in Gil’s back tense and pull away from him. 

By God, if there was anything that could kill a mood faster for Gil than the sound of Kallo's voice, it'd be a medical curiosity.

“Thanks, Kallo,” Ryder muttered grumpily into his comm. 

"Oh, by the way Ryder how'd it go with delivering that letter to the Red Rob-" Kallo chirped into his comm just until Ryder could frantically mute him.

" **Thank you** , Kallo," Ryder practically barked. Despite his own stress, Gil seemed perfectly nonchalant; he had already repositioned himself on the handrail by the time Ryder had any sort of chance to look at him. To anyone that might walk in on the scene, nothing would seem out of the ordinary, or, much less, out of place; Gil was busy bothering Vetra as she worked, and Ryder was shadowing his love interest like a schoolgirl with a crush.

Though he wished he could continue this tradition, Ryder had Jaal to attend to. He squared his shoulders, and, trying not to pout, asked "So... talk to you later?"

“I’ll be here,” he heard Gil say, careful not to look back so as not to encourage the spread of the blush on the back of his neck.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it might be a little bro-y to have Kallo and Ryder have a nickname for Gil: the Red Robin. I mean c'mon, poor Brodie looks too much like a bird for it not to be fitting.


End file.
